| 359 enjoy the privileges guaranteed to all civil people without molestation.
"I remain your brother in the Lord,
"E. PARTRIDGE.
"[Directed] To Joseph Smith, Jr., and others, confined in Liberty jail, Missouri."-Millennial Star, vol. 16, pp. 775, 776.
At a meeting held at Quincy, March 9,1839, a committee of five was appointed to visit certain lands in Iowa and "select the land, if it can be safely located." The committee were, Sidney Rigdon, J. P. Green, Elias Higbee, E. T. Benson, and Israel Barlow.
On March 17, at a conference held at Quincy, several were expelled from the church. The record is as follows:-
"After the conference fully expressed their feelings upon the subject, it was unanimously voted that the following persons be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; viz.: George M. Hinkle, Sampson Avard, John Corrill, Reed Peck, William W. Phelps, Frederick G. Williams, Thomas B. Marsh, Burr Riggs, and several others."
Dr. Galland, who interested himself in behalf of the saints, wrote a letter to Robert Lucas, Governor of Iowa Territory, concerning their settling on Iowa. soil, and received the following reply:-
"Executive Office, Iowa, Burlington, March, 1839.
"Dear Sir:-On my return to this city, after a few weeks' absence in the interior of the Territory, I received your letter of the 25th ultimo, in which you give a short account of the sufferings of the people called Mormons, and ask 'whether they could be permitted to purchase lands, and settle upon them, in the Territory of Iowa, and there worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences, secure from oppression,' etc.
"In answer to your inquiry, I would say that I know of no authority that can constitutionally deprive them of this right. They are citizens of the United States, and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of other citizens. The second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States (which all are solemnly bound to support),
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